96 - The kingfisher

It is regarded as a "flying jewel". But it's not only its
beautifully multicoloured
plumage which attracts
attention; the sparrow-sized bird is extraordinaryin other respects too.

It doesn't lay eggs in a nest, but in metre­long tunnel of earth, and swift as lightning it catches fish although it can't swim.

The kingfisher is one of the few birds which catch prey underwater although, unlike the cormorant, it can't swim.

It can fish even in swift flowing water, and its immersion is helped by the very dense structure of its plumage. Its German name Eisvogel (ice bird) in no way refers to a preference for snow or ice. Very cold water is fatal for the bird because it can't fish in it.

The name might come from the Old-German eisen which means brilliant, scintillating, or from eisenfarbig (iron­coloured) because of its blue back and rust-coloured chest feathers.

Worldwide there are over 100 species, but only one lives in Germany Alcedo atthis.